by Kenneth Andrews

Created on: September 08, 2010

Although getting high quality constructive feedback is a key goal for many writers, there are several reasons why giving unsolicited writing advice is a bad idea, and this article will seek to explore them.

Twenty years ago, aspiring authors had to wait until they had honed their writing skills to the point where someone was willing to publish their work. Today, the Internet has given everyone the opportunity to have their work read by millions all over the world, regardless of experience or, bless them, talent.

Giving unsolicited writing advice has therefore become a bad idea because in this online age you are quite possibly offering advice to someone who is just a hobby writer, someone who writes purely for their own pleasure, and who posts their work online for the entertainment of a few close friends or family members. Amateur writers are everywhere online, but many of them are not necessarily looking to improve their writing.

So unsolicited writing advice might be unwelcome, and unnecessary. The recipient might be angry, or upset. They might think your advice is sound, but then just ignore it, as they have no interest in writing any differently.

There's more though. Another reason why giving unsolicited writing advice is a bad idea is that just as the Internet has seen an apparent explosion in the number of amateur writers out there, there has also been a swelling of the ranks of amateur critics in parallel. A professional editor or proofreader or even agent will give writing advice based on training and experience. If you are not a professional editor, proofreader or agent, then the chances are very high that you will just regurgitate whichever bits of Stephen King's "On Writing" you think you can remember.

People have funny ideas about writing. Many people will tell you to hack out every adverb in your work on general principles. Others will caution you against using 'purple' prose - over-elaborate or consciously literary descriptive text. Others hate to carelessly split infinitives. And many hate it when you start a sentence with a conjunction, or end one a preposition with. The passive voice is not to be used. There are thousands of Americans out there who like to send British writers helpful emails pointing out spelling mistakes that do not in fact exist.

The fact is that although many of the above examples can weaken a piece of writing, reading almost any published novel will reveal at least one of them, and probably several. If you are writing

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